Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Truffled potato gratin

Every holiday menu should include one dish that feels positively luxurious. You can decorate your pumpkin pie with gold leaf. Serve a chestnut soup so rich with cream it coats your tongue as it goes down. Carve a filet mignon roast and serve it with big spoonfuls of horseradish-spiked sour cream. Build a tower of cracked crabs and lobster tails.

But you know me. I like truffles. Truffles are my luxury ingredient of choice.

When you add earthy, fragrant truffles to a traditional potato gratin, comfort food rises to a whole new level.

If you're worried that fresh truffles will wreck your budget - well,
okay, maybe a little. But for a dish like this you don't need the
ultra-expensive stuff. Use the less dear black Burgundy truffles ($27/ounce), or fresh Oregon truffles (I get them for about $20/ounce), or even frozen truffles, which can cost even less. Boost the truffle flavor with truffle oil and truffle salt and no one will be the wiser. I also used a truffle-infused cheese called caciotta al tartufo, which I can get at either Costco or Trader Joe's, but a mild plain Fontina would work too.

I was supposed to spend tonight at a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with a
group of my favorite Los Angeles food bloggers. Sadly, not. This is the
dish I was planning to share. I'm taking a bite for you, friends, and hoping there's another holiday together in our future.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a heavy casserole dish or cast iron skillet with cooking spray.Peel the potatoes and slice them about 1/8 inch thick. Warm the half-and-half in the microwave until it's steaming but not boiling. Make one layer of potato slices in the pan, overlapping the slices slightly. Sprinkle on about a quarter of the cheese, then grate some truffle over the top. Drizzle on some truffle oil and sprinkle with truffle salt and pepper. That's one layer.Continue building the gratin in the same manner, making three layers of potato slices and four layers of cheese and truffle (end with the cheese and truffle stuff). Pour the warm half-and-half over the whole thing.Bake about 1 hour, until the potatoes are tender, the cheese is browned and crusty, and the smell is bringing the neighbors in. Serve immediately, drizzling a little more truffle oil and grating a little more fresh truffle over each serving.

12 comments:

But I am puzzled by your reliance on artificial-chemical truffle oil, and I wonder if some day you might address that? Seems like it has to be a very different effect from using real truffles, which you also use. See, for instance:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/dining/16truf.htmlhttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2011/06/chef-gordon-ramsay-on-the-one-ingredient-you-should-not-have-in-your-pantry.html

Anon - yes, most truffle oil is made with a chemical that synthesizes the aroma of truffles (not all, but most). Real truffles are wonderful, and I use them when I can get them and afford them, but I also use truffle oil for a "boost" of truffle-y flavor and aroma. Guess what? So do most professional chefs. I'm told by the people who sell the truffles that virtually every restaurant chef they sell to also buys truffle oil and uses it to amp up the volume on their truffle dishes.

It's completely up to you. Truffle dishes with just fresh truffles are delicious and often quite subtle. Personally, I don't mind a spot of truffle oil, with or without the fresh truffles. But if it offends you (or you need to please Gordon Ramsay), do without.

You just can't go wrong with truffles! worth every penny if you ask me! In regards to the comment on truffle oil...I'm a fan, it's super nice to drizzle on eggs and my fav is drizzled on popcorn with some sea salt and black pepper!